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Box Office Post: Firangi Goes Punjabi

Kind of a dull week. Nothing terribly unexpected. But I might as well report on how Kapil Sharma and Vidya Balan are doing. SPOILERS: one is much better than the other.

Well, America hates Kapil Sharma! As does the UK. America averaged a little over $1,000 on 67 screens for Firangi. The UK averaged a little less than $1,000 on only 16 screens.

But up in Canada, slightly over $2,000 per screen. And similar in Australia and New Zealand. Once again, the Punjabi pattern holds! It’s still not a huge hit, but literally double the money in the Punjabi regions of the globe than everywhere else.

Meanwhile Tumhari Sulu, in week 3, is doing close to $2,000 per screen in the US, slightly over a thousand in Canada, and around $700 per screen in the UK. And really shockingly bad in Australia, $200 per screen. Slightly better in New Zealand, $500 per screen.

So all this is saying is more of the same from last week. The global market is getting more and more separated from itself. The idea of the all global hit is getting as illusive as the All India hit.

And regional films are not the solution. The new Telugu release, Jawaan, is doing terrible in America and didn’t even open most other places. Hindi is still the best bet for covering the whole globe in terms of distribution, it just needs better content to do so.

Maryland is driving me crazy trying to figure out who shows what. Only two movies playing now: Jawaan (four shows a day on one screen) and Mental Madhilo (one show a day at 10:30 pm, which is a hell no for this old lady.

It’s similar where I am. In theory I could see any movie, but I’d have to drive two hours to do it. And the close(er) theaters have the movies I want at random showtimes that make no sense. I’m just hoping Richie comes out on Friday at a decent time, because that is the one I actually want to see.